Bipartisan neocon Robert Kagan, who has served in the administrations of both Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama, has a prescient rap on the Donald Trump phenomenon up at the Washington Post, denying that Donald hijacked the GOP. Instead, says Bob, Donald is
“the party’s creation, its Frankenstein monster, brought to life by the party, fed by the party and now made strong enough to destroy its maker. Was it not the party’s wild obstructionism — the repeated threats to shut down the government over policy and legislative disagreements; the persistent call for nullification of Supreme Court decisions; the insistence that compromise was betrayal; the internal coups against party leaders who refused to join the general demolition — that taught Republican voters that government, institutions, political traditions, party leadership and even parties themselves were things to be overthrown, evaded, ignored, insulted, laughed at?”
Bob’s one problem seems to be math. He says all this shit has been going on for the past seven and half years. Sorry, Bob. It’s been twenty-two years, ever since Bill Clinton took office, ever since Bill Kristol argued that Republicans should oppose the Clinton health plan even if it made sense. After all, said Bill, if the plan helps America it helps the Democratic Party and hurts the Republican Party. Ever since then, Republicans have been happy to hurt America, as long as there’s a chance of hurting the Democratic Party.
